Persistance of Vision
by Noacat
Summary: A collection of poems dealing with characters from Final Fantasy 7,8, and 10.
1. First Visions Seveth Story, Reflection

Determination  
  
In the light of early evening, a silent sentinel stands.  
Feet planted on the pinnacle of Da-Chao-she makes a solemn promise.  
Bright red and green pagodas  
Tile roofs glinting in the fading sunlight.   
I promise-a vow to her home, to return it to its former glory.   
The ninja raises her shuriken high and spins it deftly in one hand.   
  
Absolution  
  
A gun twirled in a veiled sepulcher.   
Red folds of fabric, draped over slim shoulder-to hide the monster within.  
A dark man surrounded in sorrow of his own making.  
Waiting in the mountain darkness, their peaks his prison.  
This is where sin was born.   
In the misty light, he watches, seeking vengeance and redemption.   
  
Truth  
  
Clouds. Tufts of pure white snow,  
Across a pale blue canvas.   
He waits and wants and watches,   
Yearning for days gone by. For dreams,   
Long broken and torn. Will they ever come true?  
Looking up at the sky, wondering if he'll ever go there.   
To see the beauty of the heavens for himself,   
Before death claims him.   
In twilight, he can only hope.  
  
Friendship  
  
In a workshop, he toils.  
Thinking only of bringing the world pleasure,   
But being forced to manufacture pain.  
A cat circles 'round his leg.  
His inspiration. He hopes there is a way.   
  
Justice  
  
A child's laughter.  
Shear joy as she rubs the counter clean.   
The man she calls father watches, smiling weakly.  
The future, what does it hold for her?   
In a just world, children wouldn't grow up in a wasteland.   
Left to rot in this husk of a city.   
While the idle rich play, ignorant of the innocent suffering masses.   
A single ebony hand rising to rub his temple, this has to stop.   
  
Faith  
  
Twirling fists, legs arcing in deadly motion.   
Each strike practiced hundreds of times over.   
Long chocolate hair, spiraling behind her as she practices in early morning.   
Long after the last drunk has left, long before her day begins.   
A rigid routine born from the pain of her past.   
Her need to become stronger, beating her demons into submission.   
She has to fight.  
Has to believe.   
She has to hold it together, to punish the man-  
To punish the company who took everything from her.   
  
Wisdom  
  
Midnight at cliff's edge.  
A howl pierces the moonlight-a red lion mourning the sacrifices of his ancestors.  
His sharp mind thinking about the past,   
And how its lead to today.  
His tail swishes in the dark.   
The stars are aligning, and he knows he will confront the darkness.  
He will meet it head on and unafraid.   
  
Courage  
  
The lighted high rise looms before him.  
A pillar of light, but not light. Symbol of the world's suffering.   
This silver tower, this tomb of death and destruction.  
He grasps his sword, narrowing mako eyes to glowing slits of burning fire.   
Weakness, it flows through his limbs.  
Strength lies in the heart-He shows no fear.   
  
Hope  
  
Golden light spiraling from the heavens.  
A halo illuminating her fragile form.  
She stands before her garden, she is the last.  
A shepherd, the guardian of this wasted ball of dirt and dust.   
Closing emerald green eyes, she listens.  
Understanding what she must do.   
What she has to give up.  
Her life is nothing.   
She will carry the sins of the world.  
And purge the darkness 


	2. Second Visions Tenth Story, Endless Blue

Endless blue horizon

Bi-colored eyes gazing

Forward              Backward

            In-between

All the lines—All the sorrow

And pain

            How many people had she lost?

            How many lives preternaturally snuffed, all in the name of a lie?

Sin-Yevon

            God-Devil

How did the pieces fit together like this?

She had been prepared to die.

She welcomed it gladly. Until he came. 

            Bright sunshine and blue eyes. Mischievous smile on upturned lips. 

            God, his smile was incredible. 

            Even in the darkest times it was always there. Just for her. 

                                    Now it's gone. 

                                    Sin's last victim.

So she waits, staring out at the empty sea.         

            Unmoving. She refuses to cry. 

            For years she held those tears back. In Spira, you had to. 

            Because once started, those tears would never end. 

Perhaps that's how the oceans were created. By the tears of thousands of mourned dead. 

            She blinks them away—and whistles.

The sound high and shrill in the eerie calm. 

            Piercing, like those blue eyes she lost herself in countless times.

Once again, she waits

                        You promised me.....

                                    Will the call be answered?

Again, she whistles

                        Waits

                                    Nothing

            Whistle

                        Waits

                                    Nothing 

                        Again

                                    Pause

                                                Nothing

                                    Repeat

                                                Pause 

                                                            Nothing

                                                Please answer me

                                                            Wait

                                                                        Nothing

            "Yuna....It's time." , a silky voice whispers quiet but unquiet.

                                    Turning, turning.

She tried to find an excuse not to leave---Why she's out here

            Alone

                        Whistling at nothing.

The raven haired woman smiles gently, purple hued lips turning up—it hardly seems real.

            Even she is unsure, she, who is considered the founding rock of her guardians.

            Who always seemed so strong and resolute. It's a big thing to discover everything 

            You've ever known was a lie. 

Even worse when it costs you a friend. Warm eyes understanding, she moves towards the younger woman. Setting a hand on a slim shoulder.

                        She sighs, looking out at the sea one last time.

                                    I'll always love you.....always.


	3. Third Visions Eighth Story, Until Death

Booming thunder, crackling from the heavens. Streaking the white-hot sky. Debris tumbling, as stones thrown by angry gods. Gods of Death. These newfound instruments of destruction. Dropped from above. Rolling out of their metal shells, hurtling towards the ground. Making coffins of street corners.  
Broken rubble the innocent's grave.  
  
First day home. After a long and painful labor, she waits in an empty house. It has been this way for months. Silence. Nothing but her and the clock. Six months gone. No more letters have come. Word of her husband and daughter  
Come to a complete stand still.  
Everyday a new worry. Everyday spent with stomach clenched in fear.  
  
The village has been kind to her. They loved Ellone as much as she. It had been hard at first, being the only single mother in a small town. This new babe gives them even more reason to gather 'round her.  
Life emanates from him. Confirmation of our blessed place in the universe.  
That spark of star born brilliance. Set deep in storm cloud eyes.  
  
She walks through this town. Showing the babe his home. Where his future most likely lays, in the tiny streets and fields. Reveling in the fresh air of a bright summers morn.  
His rosy cheeks. His pale blue eyes gazing upward stoically.  
He hasn't smiled yet and it worries the new mother.  
You can't go through life never smiling.  
  
We all wait here. In the in-between. Going about our uncertain lives. Unheeding. Unknowing. Walking through death's shadow without fear. Until he comes for us. Grasping and clawing.  
  
In the aftermath, the babe cries plaintively. His mother's silent tears splashing against dry rock. She hadn't even named him yet, waiting for her family's return that would never come. A blood stained hand reaches out, tiredly caressing her son's cheek. Her touch quiets him, cooing softly in the hard and narrow dark.  
Delicate newborn body, shielded by his mother's gentle embrace.  
The weight above crushing her slowly, pushing the breath from her rib cage.  
She endures this for long hours. Barely acknowledging the flittering peaks of light.  
  
Rescue workers dig the pair from the rubble. Some without tools, they pull the debris from the scene by hand. Removing stone after stone to find this broken body and the child she protected. Muffled voices calling for a doctor. Her eyes flutter, and she pulls her necklace off with trembling hand. Clamping it into a startled worker's grasp.  
  
How startlingly short our lives are. Even in old age the end always comes too soon. We walk this planet as strangers, long time visitors exploring virgin earth. Love blossoms only to die and be reborn into light in a never- ending cycle.  
In deepening sorrow, she sleeps and closes her eyes on pale moonlight.  
Thinking about her son's beautiful eyes. Blue and as clear as artic  
ice.  
Brewing gray, storm clouds stealing.  
  
They remind her of a storm she once saw over the ocean in her youth. Her Squall. Her son. Her shining beacon. What future lay ahead of him, she does not know. Groggy mind wondering what fate's strings hold for him.  
She only hopes he will know how much she loved him.  
Even until death. 


End file.
